As automated farm or agricultural equipment has developed over the years, the size and mass of the end products has generally been increased to the point that automated or mechanized means is required for handling the product for transport from field to other storage area. Initially, hay was shocked into bundles which were manually loaded on a wagon for transport from the field. Later, automatic baling machines were developed which pick up the hay from the mown hayrow, bale it, and deposit the bales on a wagon or bed for transport. Such bales have a size and weight which is at the practical limit for manual manipulation by a single strong individual, as the mechanized or automated equipment generally precludes any need for such manual handling of the bales.
Still later, machines have been developed which are moved along the mown hayrow and roll the cut hay into relatively large diameter hay rolls, often six to eight feet in diameter and weighing on the order of a ton or more, depending to a great extent on the moisture content as well as other factors. Obviously, such large and massive hay rolls cannot be manually moved or handled; mechanized equipment is required.
Various forms of automated mechanized equipment have been developed for the handling of standard rectangular hay bales, providing for picking them up from the field, transporting them to a barn or other storage area, and depositing them for storage or further transport as desired. However, very little specialized equipment has been developed for handling the larger round hay rolls, other than various tine and other attachments for conventional tractors, for picking up such hayrolls singly and transferring them to yet another conventional vehicle for movement. The rolls require yet another specially equipped conventional tractor or the like for offloading when the rolls are delivered to their storage or transfer site.
Accordingly, the need arises for a specialized transporter which is adapted to pick up such hay rolls in the field, distribute them evenly over the bed of the vehicle, and transport them to the storage or other transfer site as desired. The vehicle and all its functions must be capable of being operated by a single individual and of travel over public roads as a conventional truck, as well as in the field, and should also provide for offloading the hay rolls at the offloading site and stacking them for compact storage or carriage by another vehicle, in stacks up to two rolls high in order to save horizontal space.